MAPS 26

Simon Pepping: MAPS 2001.2 (English); MAPS 26, 2001, 1-246; maps.pdf (4502kb); keywords:
NTG, MAPS, EuroTeX, proceedings; abstract:
EuroTeX proceedings
Simon Pepping: Editorial (English); MAPS 26, 2001, 1-4; 01.pdf (45kb)
Siep Kroonenberg: A note about the design of the Proceedings (English); MAPS 26, 2001, 5; 02.pdf (56kb)
David Antoš, Petr Sojka: Pattern Generation Revisited (English); MAPS 26, 2001, 7-17; 03.pdf (130kb); keywords:
patterns, Unicode, hyphenation, tagging, transformation, Omega, PatGen, PatLib, reimplementation, templates, C++; abstract:
The program PatGen, being nearly twenty years old, doesn't suit today's needs: it is nearly impossible to make changes, as the program is highly optimised (like TeX); it is limited to eight-bit encodings; it uses static data structures; reuse of the pattern technique and packed trie data structure for problems other than hyphenation (context dependent ligature handling, spell checking, Thai syllabification, etc) is cumbersome. Those and other reasons explained further in the paper led us to the decision to reimplement PatGen from scratch in an object-oriented manner (like NTS - New Typesetting System reimplementation of TeX) and to create the PATtern LIBrary PatLib and the (hyphenation) pattern generator based on it. We argue that this general approach allows the code to be used in many applications in computer typesetting area, in addition to those of pattern recognition, which include various natural language processing, optical character recognition, and others.
S. Austin, D. Menshikov, Michael Vulis: Use of TeX plugin technology for displaying of real-time weather and geographic information (English); MAPS 26, 2001, 18; 04.pdf (22kb); abstract:
In this article we show how by means of the GeX plugin technology one can process and display geographic information including real-time weather data as part of a TeX to PDF compilation.
Giuseppe Bilotta: TeXlib: a TeX reimplementation in library form (English); MAPS 26, 2001, 19-26; 05.pdf (89kb); abstract:
I first came across the need for a TeX in library form when I was thinking about developing a graphical real-time front-end to TeX (the TeXPerfect project, more info at texperfect.sourceforge.net). A quick survey (on the comp.text.tex newsgroup) showed that other projects could have benefited from a library providing TeX typesetting capabilities, and I thus decided to develop TeXlib as a separate project from TeXPerfect. A `call for developers' on the same newsgroup provided the project with developers/consultants/helpers.
Berend de Boer: From database to presentation via XML, XSLT and ConTeXt (English); MAPS 26, 2001, 27-39; 06.pdf (130kb); abstract:
Much data exists only in databases. A familiar example is an address list. Every once in a while this data must be presented to humans. To continue with the address list example, annually an address list must be printed and mailed. In this article I attempt to given an exhaustive overview of going from structured data through ConTeXt to output.
Tobias Burnus: Usage of MathML for paper and web publishing (English); MAPS 26, 2001, 40; 07.pdf (25kb); abstract:
The Mathematical Meta Language (MathML) oft he World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) based on XML has gained more support in the last months. Looking at the W3C's list ofsof tware which supports MathML one sees that the number of applications which can produce MathML is rather long, but the list of applications supporting typesetting of MathML is rather short.
J. Chlebíková, J. Guričan, M. Nagy, I. Odrobina: The Euromath System — a structured XML editor and browser (English); MAPS 26, 2001, 41-48; 08.pdf (324kb); keywords:
structured editing, TeX, XML; abstract:
The Euromath System is an XML WYSIWYG structured editor and browser with the possibility of TeX input/output. It was developed within the Euromath Project and funded through the SCIENCE programme of the European Commission. Originally, the core of the Euromath System was based on the commercial SGML structured editor Grif. At present, the Euromath System is in the final stage of re-implementation based upon the public domain structured editor Thot and XML. During the re-implementation process several principal differences between the basic features of Thot and the basic purposes of the Euromath System had to be resolved.
Jonathan Fine: Instant Preview and the TeX daemon (English); MAPS 26, 2001, 49-58; 09.pdf (123kb); abstract:
Instant Preview is a new package, for use with Emacs and xdvi, that allows the user to preview instantly the file being edited. At normal typing speed, and on a 225MHz machine, it refreshes the preview screen with every keystroke. Instant Preview uses a new program, dvichop, that allows TeX to process small files over 20 times quicker than usual. It avoids the overhead of starting TeX. This combination of TeX and dvichop is the TeX daemon. One instance of the TeX daemon can serve many programs. It can make TeX available as a callable function. It can be used as the formatting engine of a WYSIWYG editor. This talk will demonstrate Instant Preview, describe its implementation, discuss its use with LaTeX, sketch the architecture of a WYSIWYG TeX, and call for volunteers to take the project forward.
Hans Hagen: TeX and/or xml: good, bad and/or ugly (English); MAPS 26, 2001, 59; 10.pdf (25kb); abstract:
As a typesetting engine, TeX can work pretty well with structured input. One can build interfaces that are reasonably well to work with and code in. XML on the other hand is purely meant for coding, and the more rigorous scheme prevents errors and makes reuse easy. Contrary to TeX, xml is not equivalent to typesetting, although there are tools (and methods) to easily convert the code into other stuctured code (like HTML) that then can be handled by rendering engines. Should we abandon coding in TeX in favor of xml? Should we abandon typesetting using TeX in favor of real time rendering of relatively simple layout designs? Who are the good and bad guys in that world? And even more importantly: to what extent will document design (and style design) really change?
Hans Hagen: TeX Top Publishing: an overview (English); MAPS 26, 2001, 60; 11.pdf (25kb); abstract:
TeX is used for producing a broad range of documents: articles, journals, books, and anything you can think of. When TeX came around, it was no big deal to beat most of those day's typesetting programs. But how well does TeX compete today with mainstream Desk Top Publishing programs? What directions will publishing take and what role can TeX play in the field of typesetting? What are today's publishing demands, what are the strong and what are the weak points of good old TeX, and what can and should we expect from the successors of TeX?
Taco Hoekwater: ConTeXt Publication Module, the user documentation (English); MAPS 26, 2001, 61-73; 12.pdf (93kb); abstract:
This module takes care of references to publications and the typesetting of publication lists, as well as providing an interface between BibTeX and ConTeXt. This is a preliminary version; changes may be needed or wanted in the near future. In particular, there are some minor issues with the multi-lingual interface that need to be solved.
Jean-Michel Hufflen: mlbibTeX: a New Implementation of bibTeX (English); MAPS 26, 2001, 74-94; 13.pdf (224kb); keywords:
Bibliographies, multilingual features, LaTeX, bibTeX; abstract:
This paper describes mlbibTeX, a new implementation of bibTeX with multilingual features. We show how to use it as profitably as possible, and go thoroughly into compatibility between bibTeXs current implementation and ours. Besides, the precise grammar of mlbibtex is given as an annex.
Bogusław Jackowski, Krzysztof Leszczyński: Special fonts (English); MAPS 26, 2001, 95-110; 14.pdf (169kb); keywords:
cmdfont, special commands, METAPOST, fonts, postscript; abstract:
We propose the use of a special pseudofont as an enhancement (in a sense) of the \special instruction. The examples of the implementation show that the technique applied here would prove to be extremely useful, especially with METAPOST.
Bogusław Jackowski, Janusz M. Nowacki, Piotr Strzelczyk: MetaType1: a METAPOST-based engine for generating Type 1 fonts (English); MAPS 26, 2001, 111-119; 15.pdf (221kb); keywords:
outline fonts, scalable fonts, parameterized fonts, Type 1 fonts, METAFONT, METAPOST; abstract:
A package for preparing parameterized outline fonts in PostScript Type 1 format is described. The package makes use of METAPOST, awk, and T1utils, therefore is supposed to be easily portable to various computer platforms. Its beta version along with a sample font (Knuth's logo font) is available from: ftp://bop.eps.gda.pl/pub/metatype1
Michal Marvan: Natural TeX Notation in Mathematics (English); MAPS 26, 2001, 120-129; 16.pdf (144kb); keywords:
natural mathematical notation; abstract:
In this paper we introduce Nath, a LaTeX 2.09/2e style implementing a natural TeX notation for mathematics.
Michael Moortgat, Richard Moot, Dick Oehrle: TeX in teaching (English); MAPS 26, 2001, 130-140; 17.pdf (145kb); abstract:
A well-known slogan in language technology is `parsing-as-deduction': syntax and meaning analysis of a text takes the form of a mathematical proof. Developers of language technology (and students of computational linguistics) want to visualize these mathematical objects in a variety of formats. We discuss a language engineering environment for computational grammars. The kernel is a theorem prover, implemented in the logic-programming language Prolog. The kernel produces LaTeX source code for its internal computations. The front-end displays these in a number of user-defined typeset formats. Local interaction with the kernel is via a tcl/tk GUI. Alternatively, one can call the kernel remotely from dynamic PDF documents, using the form features of Sebastian Rahtz' hyperref package.
Janusz Marian Nowacki: Poligraf: from TeX to printing house (English); MAPS 26, 2001, 141-145; 18.pdf (76kb); abstract:
The macro package Poligraf was for the first time presented at the Polish TeX Users' Group meeting `BachoTeX'96'. Users' suggestions and remarks have been taken into account leading to this new, completely re-worked version.
Simon Pepping: Extending ExTeX (English); MAPS 26, 2001, 146-150; 19.pdf (70kb); keywords:
exTeX, DSSSL, file location, extension of exTeX, primitives in exTeX; abstract:
What can be done after the completion of ExTeX? I describe a dream, some results, and some further ideas.
Fabrice Popineau: Directions for the TeXLive system (English); MAPS 26, 2001, 151-161; 20.pdf (157kb); keywords:
TeXLive, web2c; abstract:
This paper is about the current status of the TeXLive software. The first part of the paper will address the structured description of its content and how the Windows 1 setup program can use it. The past experiments with the Windows installer have revealed that the problem was harder than expected. The new TeXLive 6 description files will allow a more effective way to use the setup program. Some further enhancements are even scheduled. The second part of the paper will address a set of possible extensions to the Web2C/Kpathsea pair (read it as a call for code contributions!). Some aspects of its use were not foreseen when it was devised and it may be time for an enhancement.
Pedro Quaresma: DCpic, Commutative Diagrams in a (La)TeX Document (English); MAPS 26, 2001, 162-172; 21.pdf (144kb); keywords:
Communicative diagrams, LaTeX, TeX, picTeX; abstract:
DCpic is a package of TeX macros for graphing Commutative Diagrams in a (La)TeX or ConTeXt document. Its distinguishing features are: the use of PICTeX a powerful graphical engine, and a simple specification syntax. A commutative diagram is described in terms of its objects and its arrows. The objects are textual elements and the arrows can have various straight or curved forms. We describe the syntaxand semantics of the user's commands, and present many examples of their use.
Martin Schröder: Using pdfTeX in a PDF-based imposition tool (English); MAPS 26, 2001, 173; 22.pdf (25kb); abstract:
pdfTeX has been used successfully to build an industrial-strength PDF-based imposition tool. This paper/talk describes the pitfalls we encountered and the lessons learned.
Laurent Siebenmann: ASCII-Cyrillic and its converter email-ru.tex (English); MAPS 26, 2001, 174-186; 23.pdf (111kb); abstract:
A new faithful ASCII representation for Russian called ASCII-Cyrillic is presented here, one which permits accurate typing and reading of Russian where no Russian keyboard or font is available — as often occurs outside of Russia. ASCII-Cyrillic serves the Russian and Ukrainian languages in parallel. This article initially discusses Russian; but, further along, come the modifications needed to adapt to the Ukrainian alphabet.
Karel Skoupy: A Tour around the NTS implementation (English); MAPS 26, 2001, 187; 24.pdf (34kb); keywords:
NTS, Java, extension; abstract:
NTS is a modular object-oriented reimplementation of TeX written in Java. This document is a summary of a presentation which shows the path along which the characters and constructions present in the input file pass through the machinery of the program and get typeset. Along the way the key classes and concepts of NTS are visited, the differences with original TeX are explained and the good points where to dig into the system are proposed.
Igor Strokov: Visual TeX: TeXlite (English); MAPS 26, 2001, 188-191; 25.pdf (54kb); keywords:
visual, TeX; abstract:
A prototype of a visual TeX is implemented by means of minor modifications of canonical TeX. The changes include the ability to start compilation from an arbitrary page, fast paragraph reformatting, and retaining the origin of visual elements. The new features provide direct editing of the document preview and correct markup of the source text.
Péter Szabó: Conversion of TeX fonts into Type 1 format (English); MAPS 26, 2001, 192-206; 26.pdf (162kb); keywords:
PDF, font conversion, Type 1 fonts, METAFONT, vector, outline, raster, bitmap, pdfTeX; abstract:
This paper analyses the problem of converting TeX fonts to Type 1 fonts, describes TeXtrace, a new free conversion program, and compares it to other possible methods and existing utilities. TeXtrace works by rendering the font in high resolution and then tracing (vectorizing) it.
Ulrik Vieth: Math typesetting in TeX: The good, the bad, the ugly (English); MAPS 26, 2001, 207-216; 27.pdf (120kb); keywords:
math typesetting, math fonts, symbol fonts, font metrics, font encodings; abstract:
Taking the conference motto as a theme, this papers examines the good, the bad, and the ugly bits of TeX's math typesetting engine and the related topic of math fonts. Unlike previous discussions of math fonts, which have often focussed on glyph sets and font encodings, this paper concentrates on the technical requirements for math fonts, trying to clarify what makes implementing math fonts so difficult and what could or should be done about it.
Paul Wackers: Typography and production of manuscripts and incunabula (English); MAPS 26, 2001, 217-218; 28.pdf (36kb); keywords:
typography, manuscript, incunabulum; abstract:
This paper describes how the modern type of books slowly came into existence during the middle ages. The first printers modeled their products on these handwritten books but needed — in time — some adjustments because of the differences in production between a manuscript and a printed book and because of the differences between producing for a patron or for an anonymous mass market.
Włodek Bzyl: Reintroducing type 3 fonts to the world of TeX (English); MAPS 26, 2001, 219-243; 29.pdf (505kb); abstract:
Nowadays, a great number of documents are produced every day. Many authors would like their documents to stand out from the rest not only by content but also by typographic design. For this purpose one may use decorative letters, ornaments, dingbats and special fonts. If each document would have to look different from all the others a great many fonts and font deviations are needed. This could be achieved by combining the METAPOST language with the type 3 font format. This new font creation technology enables users endless single-use-only variations in weight and width, style and size, and in color. A new level of control over the embellishment level off onts in documents is thereby achieved.
Michael Guravage: Literate Programming, not just another pretty face (English); MAPS 26, 2001, 244-245; 30.pdf (64kb); abstract:
The structure of a software program may be thought of as a `web' that is made of many interconnected pieces. To document such a program, we want to explain each individual part of the web and how it relates to its neighbors. D.E.K.